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Adoption of Children Act 1968, Tasmania

The Adoption of Children Act 1968 was passed in response to the Commonwealth government’s push for model legislation to harmonise adoption law in Australia. The 1968 Act made it mandatory for an assessment of potential adoptive parents to be undertaken. It also made private adoptions illegal, making it unlawful for private individuals or unauthorised organisations…

Adoption of Children Act 1920, Tasmania

The Adoption of Children Act 1920 made the first legal provision for adoption in Tasmania. There was no requirement for an assessment of the adoptive parent to be undertaken and guardianship of the child transferred directly from the birth parent to the adoptive parent. This practice changed with the passage of the Adoption of Children…

Child Protection Act 1974, Tasmania

The Child Protection Act 1974 (Act No.104/1974) was intended to protect children under 12 from abuse. The long title of the Act was ‘An Act to provide further and better protection for children of tender years who have suffered from beatings or other cruel treatment’. Before its introduction, Tasmanian child welfare legislation had focused more…

Child Welfare Act 1960, Tasmania

The Child Welfare Act 1960 with the full title “An Act to consolidate and amend certain enactments relating to children and other persons who have not attained the age of twenty-one years” (Act no.48/1960) set out the provisions by which a child who was 16 years or younger could be made a ward of the…

Infants’ Welfare Act 1935, Tasmania

The Infants’ Welfare Act 1935 (Act no.26 Geo. V No.96) also known by its full title ‘an act to consolidate and amend the Law relating to the Welfare of Children and the Protection of Infant Life’ replaced the Children’s Act 1918 (Act no. 9 Geo.V No.15). This new legislation covered many of the same areas…

Children’s Charter Amendment Act 1923, Tasmania

The Children’s Charter Amendment Act 1923 made some minor amendments to the sections of the Children of the State Act 1918 that provided for children’s courts. The full title of this act was “An Act to amend ‘The Children’s Charter’” (Act no. 13 Geo. V no.21) and it was repealed in 1936 by The Infants…

Listen to the children: review of claims of abuse from adults in state care as children, Ombudsman Tasmania

Listen to the children: review of claims of abuse from adults in state care as children was an Ombudsman inquiry. It was established in July 2003 by the Tasmanian government. The inquiry made an initial report in 2004, followed by another in 2006. On 11 July 2003, the ABC Television current affairs program, Stateline, featured…

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) is the national research and collecting institution for information and research about the cultures and lifestyles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, past and present. It holds the world’s most comprehensive collection of print, moving image, sound recordings and photographic materials relating to…

Department of the Interior, Commonwealth Government

A new Commonwealth Department of the Interior was created in 1939 when a number of matters under the control of the original Department of the Interior were transferred to other portfolios. Among many other matters, the second Department of the Interior was responsible for overseeing the emigration of children and Aboriginal people. It also retained…

Department of the Interior, Commonwealth Government

The Commonwealth Department of the Interior was created in 1932 when the Departments of Home Affairs, Transport and Works and Railways were amalgamated. The new department took over responsibility for numerous matters including the emigration of children and Aboriginal people. It was also responsible for the Northern Territory. In 1939 after changes of responsibility within…